Anya's Lounge
by Moonlight M3lody
Summary: Tierkreis- Anya is ready to uncover every secret in the castle. Collections of short fics about the army, background details, and some silly requests.
1. The Gossip Girls

** Gossip Girl **

Note: I use Gensopedia's version of MC's name, Sieg.

Betareader: Wyl (Thank you so much! I don't have time to do proofread these days.)

As busy as they were tending war and such, requests kept flooding to their headquarters. Moana had been garrulous and told him to finish all of them as quick as possible. It didn't help when some of the members were also sending in their own requests. All resulted in one helpless and tired leader. It would be better if their requests were worth the time, but usually Anya came with something 'important' only to her. Sure, he only needed to assign a few people to go with her and she would be satisfied. He would gain insight of their members too. But on the other hand, if she found something 'juicy' then she would make him stand and listen until she finished her reports. It was, for everything's sake, a total waste of time. He thought that's quite okay, better than hearing war reports for hours. But once in a while, when jobs were already piled up, war worsened, or they overcame something urgent, it would be reversed, and his mood fouled.

So when a day came when he could get rid of that girl, even though only for one day, he was so happy. At least there would be less silly requests and he could concentrate to finish more important ones.

"Good work, leader. Here's your reward! Wanna check on new quests?" The Wanderer girl handed them their money. Although she was pushy sometimes, she did good work managing requests. "Thanks, Moana! Lemme see them!" She took a box and placed in two missions that had been cleared from the board, and then two envelopes were drawn from thin air. She sure works fast, as they couldn't see from where she got the box and the envelopes.

"One from Anya, and the other from Guntram in Pharamond. Which one will you read first?" she offered. Sieg sighed. "Anya's, please." _It will be better to choose the nearer and easier request to do first, right?_

_I heard there is a gossip girl in Pharamond!_

_May I meet her?_

"Must be that one in the weapon shop." How could he did not remember? That woman tried to match him with Princess Chrodechild last time. "Pretty brief letter for her calibre." Marica giggled. Liu twitched his eyebrows, glanced at Sieg cautiously. "Two gossip girls. Do you think it's all right?" Marica nodded, waiting for Sieg's comment. He seemed to think and consider the two options carefully. He wouldn't want to regret it later. "At last she won't make a fuss here in the castle." _And save me from her requests for a while._ "Are you sure? Then I'll tell her she can go," she said, uncertain of her leader's approval. "We'll take care of that request from Pharamond, and drop her off there. After we are finished, we'll bring her back."

He cleared that request half-heartedly, wondering howeven an artificial mind could act like that. He really didn't want to crush Lamade, yet he must. He envied Rufa, who seemed to know what was going on in Zayin's mind. But it was finished, and there was no point to bring it back. He remembered about pick Anya back. When he entered the weapon shop, all he could find was that woman, smiling and laughing happily, and said, "Thank you for that wonderful chatting companion! Let her come again, please, Lord Sieg?" _So she had left_. Because she wouldn't need to fight even one monster to go back to the castle. He headed for the gateway, with a bit of gladness he wouldn't have to hear her gossips again. Whenever she needed someone to talk to, he would send her here through the gateway

It turned out to be more than he expected. As soon as he reported to Moana about their success, Anya appeared and dragged him to the lakeside. Her grin sent a chill down to his spine.

"Anya?"

"What a wonderful day! She knew a lot about Astrasia, and of course its affairs! We exchanged many juicy gossips."

_Looks like she's happy. That's good._

"Hey leader! Let me tell you my findings!"

Her words made him fret. That was the last thing he wanted now! Didn't he send her to Pharamond in order to avoid this?

"Can't it wait till later?"

"No! Hear these while they're still fresh!"

"… We wonder who will marry Princess Chrodechild, it sure will be interesting if she takes a husband, and do you know Guntram's bad habit...Oh! And Meruvis….was…..Two years ago….Roberto's rank…then they…Order came…Princess Fredegund….Astrasia's throne…His childhood…"

"Ah! Hearing these things gives me a headache!"

A/N: Actually, I kind of like Anya 's quest. They give deeper knowledge for the member's backgrounds, even only for a bit. Then when I was stocking Ninja Gaiters in Pharamond, I met this woman that frequently talk about Chrodechild's future husband and something like that, so it flashes in my mind, how if they meet each other? Sieg's torture! Sorry if it wasn't that funny.


	2. Royals' Issue

**2. Royals' Issues-Part 1(The Beginning)**

**Beta:Wyl**

What would be the most dire thing for a leader of a growing army? Obedience? No, he might not the most charismatic leader ever, but everyone shared the same feelings to beat the Order. Collision between allies? Nope, still wrong. Aside from a few rivalries there was basically nothing to note. They got along well.

If it came to a certain boy, it was how little he knew about them.

That's right. He accepted anyone who kept the will to fight, and anyone who wanted to stand by his side in the war. Whatever the backgrounds, it was all right. And before he realized it, the Company was full of people he barely knew. Lots of them happened to be new acquintances for him. They just met for the first time, and voila, they were part of the army. Not like he would mind. It didn't matter who they were, as long as they were really determined.

But somehow, he just felt that he wanted to know them even if only a bit. It would be better than nothing at all.

Fortunately (Or unfortunately depending on the situations), the company had someone that was always full of hunger for information Set aside her gossips, she kept a ton of rumors and data Anya was ready for almost everything, backed with the matchmaker Moana (Who turned out to love gossips as well). The combination of the two helped him to gain insight on his allies.

"Welcome back! How was it?"

"Total success! Not just we could get rid of the black monster, that old man joined us too!"

"Oh yeah? Congratulations, then!"

She sorted the mission roster she took charge of. "Hmm, the dispatched members had returned a while ago. They were in their rooms if you need them." He remembered sending a few people across the Infinity to gain experiences, and decided to let them rest for now. "Hey," patted Marica,"I think you should call Enumclaw by his proper name,"she muttered.

One of his traits since who knows how long ago. She snickered at the thought of how he called Macoute 'windbag' and Valfred 'Old kook'. She didn't mind if it was for enemy, but he should hold his tongue for allies. What if they somehow got irritated and decided to leave?" By the way, I think you can rest after this. I remember only one blank section left in the Tablet of Promise a few days ago, and with Enumclaw joining us, it should be completed,"she pointed cheerfully.

He hadn't even heard, when she looked back. Too busy choosing request cards that were spread in front of him. She sighed, then joined him in the quest list. He took a pen and wrote down names of members to send off in a mission, then quickly turned to another. In an instant, only a few cards that required personal attention remained.

Half were varied between complaints from the others(including Numnu's letter about Felecca trying to hug him every time he strolled the hall, and Zahra's about the low frequency of patients coming to his room), and to his confusion, menu suggestions for Wustum(_Lycia? Nomno? Ouragan? Whose letter is this? Ah, I'll pass this to Wustum later_). The rest were either Maybelle's note (He didn't even need to read the whole thing. He trashed it after finished the first paragraph), Autar's thank-you memo, and finally, Anya's request.

He recognized it fast enough from her infamous signature and thick envelope. With nothing to do in particular, he decided to read it right there. He tore the wrapper worriedly.

_What will that girl bring this time?_

It appears that his worry for worthless time went to nothing. At least, it offered chunk of new discoveries.

It was written neatly across the pages.

_Hey, you know that I came from the ol' boring Grayridge, right? Nah, while I stay in this castle there's a few things come to my mind. There are two kingdoms in this company, and I am pretty curious about the whole system. Grayridge was an autonomous area, so it's new for me. Astrasia Kingdom and Magedom of Janam, can you please help me find more about the two, and perhaps, their differences and similarities? I have a few questions attached already, but I'll write more after you approve._

_How to determine the next ruler? (I know many kingdoms use Lineage system, but I thought there may be something different in Janam and Astrasia)_

_What are the possibilities of girl being the ruler?_

_I heard some countries insist that a princess must be married in order to ascend to throne. How about in these two?_

_Who have more power? Nobles or Royal family?_

_Don't you dare thinking my questions are silly! I have a pen friend from the land far north, and she told me that…_

He skimmed through the paragraph. Apparently she wrote about a page-length that has nothing to do with her request. He sighed and skipped that part. When he found the end of her ramblings, he continued to read the next, and last sentence.

_Yups, guess that's for now._

_Anya_

Truth to be told, he himself hasn't gotten much understanding of a Kingdom's structure. Raised in a small village and before all these events, he never stepped to another place farther than Eastern Hill. His impression of Magedom of Janam was pretty twisted so it didn't count.

"So? Who to send, Sieg?"asked Marica. She had caught in the interest as well. Moana re-read the letter and commented,"Don't you think she got talent in finding good stories?" Her eyes were sparkling.

"Marica," he grinned ear to ear."How if we joined this quest ourselves? I want to hear straight about this. Ya know that baldy Mage Lord didn't give me any sense, and Astrasia hasn't functioning normally." Anya poked his curiousness. She mentioned about Grayridge, and Citro was practically the same. Only an elder acted as the ruler (if being the one people consulted to is considered to be a ruler), and it was for such small area. In a big country like Janam and Astrasia, things should go on in a different way.

"Hmm, yeah. I'd like to. Who else?" She leaned to the pillar, finger trailing on her hair.

"Consider Asad? He has good relationship with both 'targets'," said a voice from the direction of the Plaza.

"Liu? And Jale?" the two greeted their friends, smirking. "Sorry, we overheard that on the way." But Jale's voice didn't show any hint of regret, instead, Marica could hear his hidden exhilaration. Liu examined the letter, carefully covered his amusement.

"Nah, it's okay, guys. Wanna tag along?" Sieg folded his arm, looking at the two last members of 'Citro's defense corp'. "Although it's surprising when you say you want to learn anything unrelated to combat. Bet you'll be bored after a few minutes,"jested Jale, trying to sound serious.

"We don't know until…"

"I'll go get Asad, then we could proceed,"interrupted Liu. All of them know very well of Sieg's motto. "It's starting to grow on me,"added Jale.

Liu didn't come back until ten minutes later, when he walked out the Lift alone. Grinning on his friend's quizzical faces, he pointed up. "Where's Asad?" asked Sieg. He brushed off his question; instead, he continued his previous action. "Let's go to the Grand Hall, and see by yourself."

Shams, Taj, Manaril, Hafin, Asad, Nakil, Chrodechild, Roberto, Meruvis, and Guntram were in the Grand Hall when they opened the door. Apparently they were talking about something. Liu strolled ahead of his friends, announced,"Well, there they are." The group nodded. Chrodechild stepped to greet them. "Good afternoon, My Lord. Liu said you need to ask something to us?"

"Good. Everyone is assembled. This is easier than I . We could wait for Anya first, or you could answer her question and get it done before she arrived. I sent her with another party this morning."

"I choose the second option,"replied Roberto, and soon followed by the other's agreement. Almost everyone had a bad experience when she interviewed them. Everything that came out their mouth would be known by the whole castle in a few hours.

"If you tend this personally, I expect it's something important, Lord?" Guntram smiled at the leader's annoyance. He already told him to erase the 'Lord' part, but Guntram (and Chrodechild as well) couldn't get used to the informal reference. "Well, I just need you to tell me about your countries, how it works, and else. You can trust me not to turn it into any gossip."

Manaril giggled. Everyone looked at the usually calm princess. She blushed. "I'm sorry. Umm, it's okay for me. How about you, brother?" Shams laughed. "Why not?" The Astrasians looked at each other, and gave their assurance nod.

"May I see the question list?" Sieg handed it to Shams, who read it curiously. "Hmm, I see. So, Janam first?"

A/N: This will be long, so I break it into three parts. First, the prologue, you have read it, the second and third are for Janam and Astrasia respectively.


	3. Royals' IssueJanam

The ex-prince of Janam took a deep breath, then gestured to his sister to come closer. Taj gave him a puzzled look, but stayed in silence.

"Well," he started,"Before we start, I'll tell you about the basic idea of the Magedom's structure. On the top of the structure, of course, as the name suggests, is the Mage Lord himself. Yeah, the Mage Lord is always a male, never to be female. In case there's no male in the core family, any boy from the Royal Family, for example a nephew of the current Mage Lord, can be taken as an heir. So, as Anya mentioned, the ruler is determined through lineage system, though not necessarily straight down." He paused, glancing to everyone in the room, and gaining quite a confidence upon learning all of them were listening.

"Look, I'm no fan of discrimination either, but this tradition has been rooted from ancient times, or as long as we can remember. Maybe the whole point has been lost with our original world, so I can't tell precisely,"he added, smiling to Manaril.

The princess continued her brother's story." As you can imagine, the Mage Lord is a supreme ruler. He controls the entire army, and even has power over nobility." Taj shuddered silently, but quickly regained his composure.

"Then right under the Mage Lord, there are The Empress Consorts, his wife, or wives, commanding various sub-divisions of the royal army according to the Mage Lord's discretion. For instance, my mother Rizwan was the head of the Chronicle Research Division, ruling the Arcane Academy, while the Lady Shairah commanded the Mage Company."

"My mother didn't get any useful position, so she often felt that she was under pressure. As the third wife, compared with the other two, she didn't have any special quality in the Royal Family. Rizwan had vast knowledge of the Chronicles, and Shairah was a talented Mage Artist. That, and my father's sly scheme, drove her hunger of power. Luckily, Shairah didn't have any children, while Manaril is a girl. That's why mother still received a decent amount of his attention." Shams ended his explanation bitterly.

"Does the Mage Lord always have more than one wife? It seems like a lot of trouble, "asked Jale. His eyebrows arched, waiting for the answer.

"Actually, no. Almost all Mage Lords across history have more than a wife, but every now and then you could find some names with monogamy marriage. Oh, let me straighten this: Even in polygamist marriage, the wives usually got along pretty well, and the first wife got most authority, then the second, and so on. In my father's reign, the balance was broken. All Empress Consorts fight over power, so the tension in the Royal Family was growing each day. Under normal circumstances, Manaril would be granted higher status than me because her mother was the second wife while mine was the third."

"Hey, Shams," Sieg grinned, causing everyone to look at him. "How many wives you think you will have?" he asked in his most serious tone. Taj and Marica gasped, but the rest were laughing. Shams blushed tentatively, staring to Manaril for help, but his sister has caught on to the joke as well and giggled.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, no mean to insult, but that was real funny,"chuckled Asad. He took over the turn to speak as the young Prince laughed nervously. "A woman should have certain qualities to enter the Royal Family. Their rank is a bit higher than the royal army's head generals, though like Shairah, a lot of them were the commander in chief as well. Noble's rank was probably the same as the generals. Some nobles have power over certain armies too, but their influence is less than the Mage Lord, in case there was any contradictory opinion."

"That baldy was that powerful?"He blurted, eyes widened. Marica glared at him, tugging his arm in alarm. Was that really a long time ago when she remind him of his attitude? Not longer than one or two hours ago, she recalled, and now look at what he did.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Shams! I forgot he's your-"

_He shook his head in the same fashion as he usually do when saying 'dismissed' to his servants_, observed Taj.

"It's okay. I understand."

Taj had known him far too well. His tone was normal, and his face was composed, but his young master couldn't hide his small annoyance from him.

"As for an example of the Mage Lord's power over nobles, he has enough power to-punish, bring down judgment, grant position, lower their status, even to the point of-"He paused worriedly. He had said too much. The blue haired boy beside him tilted his head, who gave him 'just finish that off' look. Brushing salt on wound.

"-executing them."

No words were spoken at the end of the statement, both from the fact it showed a Mage Lord's absolute authority, and that Taj, as now they all remembered, understood Shams' elucidation in the most painful way.

"I'll take care of this part,"muttered Taj dryly. "It was all in the past, and everyone involved were dead already. Time to move on."

Sieg had to note that Taj was quite a man. For such a philosophy to have come from him, he couldn't help but to think how much he suffered before the decision dawned on him.

Trying to brush off the uncomfortable air that grew between them, Chrodechild stepped forward. "May we take our turn?"


	4. Royal's IssueInbetween

A/N:Wow. Anyone agree with me that the last chapter was so bad-written? It dampened my spirit for days, unable to see how I should turn this story into, coupled with school and stuffs that this one took longer than it should do.

"I think it's our turn, my Lord?"Offered Chrodechild.

The room was filled with tension, and Sieg could felt the uneasy air hovering around them. Slightly disappointed that the talk wasn't as smooth as he wanted it to be, partly because of his untamed mouth, he shook his head.

"Nah, it's dark already, Chrodechild. Might as well get some rest before dinnertime."

Getting the message, Chrodechild gave him a firm nod. Piecing what to say, she gathered her soldiers. Sieg sent Taj an apologetic look, without any reaction from the other party. Manaril, who was caught in the middle, choked nervously, battling between saying something and keeping silence among the three. Shams placed his hand on Taj's shoulder, a gesture he used to do to calm his younger attendee and friend.

Although Taj himself said he was okay, Sieg, led by his intuition knew his decision was right. He had opened his old wound, and pored salt on it quite figuratively. The rest of Citro gang was rendered speechless. Neither one of them really good with words. Letting out unnecessary comments would only worsen the situation. Liu sighed, and Marica bit her lip. The growing stillness was no less awkward.

Finally, at the peak of the discomfort, someone spoke out.

"Let's go back to our quarters,Meruvis, Roberto. We could have a little bit of training before dinner."

Her subordinates obeyed at once, and with the clinking steps of their metal shoes against the marble floor, the trio left.

Manaril took a deep breath before saying, "I'm hungry, brother." Of course, she wasn't exactly hungry, but she couldn't think of better excuse. She didn't like it when people felt uneasy around her. Sort of like what the maids tend to do every time they served her. It brought her the same feelings.

"Your Highness. I shall ask Erin to prepare the food at once." He bowed, smiling bitterly to Sieg at the entrance. It, Sieg noted, wasn't an accusing smile. Instead, it looked like he was taking pain of invisible blow. His memories. His eyes were tired eyes, half-closed.

For a second, Marica saw the reason his manner was older than his age.

After Taj was out of sight, Shams approached Sieg."I will talk him into it. It's quite a long time, but I think…well…reminiscing on how our parents died wasn't the best thing to do."

"That wasn't what I meant to do. I'm so sorry about what I said earlier."

The prince chuckled cynically. "It definitely gives you the picture on how bad our country's political structure was . Me myself think it's not a good way to run a place, ruling the whole thing based on one person."

"You'll be a good king for Salsabil,"replied Marica. Both parties smiled.

Twilight had covered the land under its radiance by the time they went to Erin's. As always, she was busy with the customers. The bar was crowded. Logan helped some tired members bring their belongings, catering their needs for a quick night before heading out for another mission. They were no longer capable to run the place with only two people, so Anya and Lubberkin occasionally came to help, though most of the time Anya scared the guests with her ability to talk non stop while taking their order . The army was steadily growing. Not only members of the castle, even refugees and civilians frequently came and ask for lodgings.

It was where the entire castle gathered, tossing jokes or sarcasm lively to each other, meeting new faces as well as old friends, where they would ask for their relatives' condition outside. Where status and age blended into nothingness. Everyone was equal in that middle sized room.

The free ones assembled together in circle to chat, to talk, forgetting the war for minutes before setting out back to the battlefield with their weapons. They too, were living beings that need social relationship. They were not killing machines, and they were tired of fighting. One irony of life.

Sieg was fond of this place, where life seemed to be much or less normal. No matter in what time of day, it was never totally empty. Lively, full of joy and spirit. It was this kind of life he thought worth fighting for. A humble, honest day, where we enjoy each second and anticipating the next with anxiousness.

The moon had reached zenith when Sieg returned to his room. Simple plans of dinner had been interrupted by numbers of people approaching him for all sorts of things. From complains about another member, ideas to make the castle more comfortable, to sparring requests and battle strategies. It was one thing to be a leader, he guessed, but sometimes it was just plain ridiculous. It wasn't like they couldn't do anything without him.

He couldn't see almost everything since the stairs leading to his room was at the far side of the moon, and he added in his mental note that perhaps they could use some lamplight in that area. He tripped at the end of the flight of stairs, shaking him out his reverie.

"Ouch!"

"H-huh?" he looked around and an outline of a boy could be seen amidst the darkness.

"It's me. Taj," said the shadow.

"Taj? What are you doing here? It's dangerous."

"I know. But this place's good for rearranging your mind."

"Well, I suggest that we go to the balcony. Who knows who will bump into you again?"

He nodded, surprisingly smiled. He looked more in his age than usual.

The balcony was empty by the time they reached it, so Sieg concluded they were somewhere downstairs. Eating, probably. He was relieved for it. He had many things to talk with Taj, and the place was perfect.

First thing first, apology. That had flashed on his mind since his encounter with Taj half an hour ago.

"I'm…sorry."

Hearing that, Taj widened his eyes unbelievingly.

"For what?" he chuckled." It's okay, really. It's just… I hate myself not being able to forget that, after all these years. I'm not proud of what he did, but I remember he was kind of caring-sometimes."

Taj let out a soft sigh. His face had softened, and he had talked more than he ever did without Shams by his side.

"Perhaps it is time to tell someone about him. By letting this go out my mind, maybe I could let it go…"

Beta: Wyl. A wonderful beta, and I don't regret the decision to ask him for help for my Tierkreis stories.


End file.
